It's Tuesday

It's Tuesday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is December 27th, the 361st day of 2011. There are 4 days left in the year.

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Boyle recalls scary moment from playing outdoors.

Flyers play down past Classic experience as edge.

Visit the official league website, http://www.nhl.com.

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The Methuen Treaty was signed between Portugal and England on this date in 1703, giving preference to the import of Portuguese wines into England.

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Tampa FL. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are back on home ice tonight, hosting the Philadelphia Flyers.

Read the preview of the game right here.

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On this date in 1831, Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution.

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U.S. National Junior Team Earns 11-3 Win
over Denmark in IIHF World Junior Championship Opener

Coyle Nets Hat Trick in Victory

EDMONTON, Alta. -- Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass./Boston Univ.) scored three goals and Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev./Univ. of Denver) had a goal and two assists, as the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team earned an 11-3 win over Denmark tonight at Rexall Place.

"We still have plenty of work to do," said Dean Blais, head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team. "But getting that first win under our belts was important, and there was a lot of good to build on."

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead just 24 seconds into the contest when Coyle redirected a shot by Jon Merrill (Brighton, Mich./Univ. of Michigan) past Denmark goaltender Sebastian Feuk.

Denmark tied the score with a power-play goal at 3:12 of the first. But Team USA regained the lead less than 90 seconds later when Zucker fired a shot low past Feuk's glove. Then, Jarred Tinordi (Millersville, Md./London Knights) made the score 3-1 when his shot bounced off of the back of a Denmark defender and into the net.

The U.S. exploded in the second period with six goals. Nick Bjugstad (Blaine, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota) connected on a one-timer at 1:25 that found its way through Feuk's pads. Then, Coyle notched his second of the night on the power play at 7:12 to make the score 5-2.

Team USA's Kyle Rau (Eden Prairie, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota), Bill Arnold (Needham, Mass./Boston College) and J.T. Miller (East Palestine, Ohio/Plymouth Whalers) combined for three goals in less than two minutes midway through the second to extend the U.S. advantage to six goals. Then, Rau collected his second goal of the night at 16:01 of the period when a shot by Austin Watson (Ann Arbor, Mich./Peterborough Petes) ricocheted off his pads and over the goal line.

Following another Denmark power-play goal four minutes into the third, the U.S. closed out the scoring with Coyle's third goal and a late slap shot tally by Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa./Univ. of Notre Dame).

Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich./Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) made 21 saves in the win, while Denmark goalies Feuk and Dennis Jensen combined to make 33 saves in a losing effort.

Team USA will play its second preliminary-round game of the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship on Wednesday (Dec. 28) against Finland. The game, to be televised on NHL Network U.S., will start at 1:30 p.m. EST.

NOTES: Charlie Coyle was named Team USA's Player of the Game ... Team USA finished 3-for-4 on the power play, while Denmark was 3-for-3 with the man advantage ... In other tournament action, Canada defeated Finland, 8-1, while Sweden topped Lavia, 9-4, and Russia blanked Switzerland, 3-0 ... NHL Network U.S. will televise all Team USA games in the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship and 15 games total in the event. For the complete broadcast schedule, click here... The U.S. National Junior Team is coming off back-to-back medals in the IIHF World Junior Championship for the first time ever, having earned a bronze medal in last year's event in Buffalo, N.Y., and a gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Championship in Saskatoon, Sask. ... Dean Blais, head men's ice hockey coach at the University of Nebraska Omaha, is serving as head coach of the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team. He is assisted by Scott Sandelin, head men's ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Tom Ward, head ice hockey coach of the Shattuck-St. Mary's School's boys' prep team; and Joe Exter, assistant men's ice hockey coach at Ohio State University ... Jim Johannson, USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations, is serving as the general manager of Team USA for the third consecutive year. Tim Taylor (Guilford, Conn.), former U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team head coach and longtime Yale University men's ice hockey team head coach, is also serving his third straight year as Team USA's director of player personnel ... The U.S. National Junior Team blog will provide daily updates with game recaps, photos and multimedia content. The blog can be found here ... Use the hashtag #USAWJC to join the conversation on Twitter.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 3 - 6 - 2 - 11
DEN 2 - 0 - 1 - 3

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Coyle (Merrill, Zucker), 0:24; 2, DEN, Hansen (N. Jensen, Bjorkstrand), 3:12 (pp); 3, USA, Zucker (Forbort), 4:41; 4, USA, Tinordi (Miller), 8:26; 5, DEN, Hansen (Spelling, Bjorkstrand), 9:04 (pp). Penalties: USA, Tinordi (delaying-the-game), 2:27; USA, Merrill (hooking), 8:54; DEN, Christensen (slashing), 15:49.

Second Period - Scoring: 6, USA, Bjugstad (Czarnik, Clendening), 1:25; 7, USA, Coyle (Saad, Etem), 7:12 (pp); 8, USA, Rau (Clendening, Czarnik), 9:07; USA, Arnold (Archibald, Etem), 10:21; USA, Miller (Arnold, Tynan), 10:51 (pp); 11, USA, Rau (Watson, Trouba), 16:01 (pp). Penalties: DEN, Christensen (holding), 6:24; DEN, Meyer (checking-to-the-head, misconduct), 10:34; DEN, Schultz (hooking), 15:09.

Third Period - Scoring: 12, DEN, Spelling (Bjorkstrand, N. Jensen), 4:20 (pp); 13, USA, Coyle (Zucker, Forbort), 11:04; 14, USA, Johns (unassisted), 5:56. Penalties: USA, Johns (kneeing), 4:05; DEN, Madsen (tripping), 4:40; USA, Archibald (diving), 4:40.

Shots by Period
1 2 3 Total
USA 15 18 11 44
DEN 10 6 8 24

Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Campbell 60:00 10-8 6-6 8-7 24-21
DEN, Feuk 30:21 15-12 12-8 -- 27-20
DEN, Jensen 29:39 -- 6-4 11-9 17-13

Power Play: USA 3-4; DEN 3-3
Penalties: USA 4-8; DEN 6-20
Officials: Referees - Vyacheslav Bulanov (RUS), Jryi Petteri Ronn (FIN); Linesmen - Kiel Murchison (CAN), Dmitry Sivov (RUS)
Attendance: 13,604

Team USA 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship Schedule
Dec. 26 - Jan. 5 • Alberta, Canada

Date Opponent Location*
Time (MST)/Result

Tues., Dec. 20 Russia^ Red Deer L, 3-6
Wed., Dec. 21 Switzerland^ Camrose W, 7-3
Fri., Dec. 23 Slovakia^ Three Hills W, 5-0
Mon., Dec. 26 Denmark Edmonton W, 11-3
Wed., Dec. 28 Finland Edmonton 1:30 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 30 Czech Republic Edmonton 1:30 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 31 Canada Edmonton 6 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 2 Quarterfinals Calgary TBD
Tues., Jan. 3 Semifinals Calgary TBD
Thurs., Jan. 5 Bronze-Medal Game Calgary 1:30 p.m.
Gold-Medal Game Calgary 6 p.m.
*All games in Edmonton will be played at Rexall Place. All games in Calgary will be played at Scotiabank Saddledome.
^Pre-tournament game

U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team To Compete
in 2012 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship

Team USA Looking for Fourth Title in Five Years

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team will compete in the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation U18 Women's World Championship Dec. 31-Jan. 7 in Prerov and Zlin, Czech Republic.

Team USA will look to defend the gold medal it won in the event a year ago. The U.S. has won the gold medal in three of the first four IIHF U18 Women's World Championships.

Highlighting the roster are seven returning members of the gold medal-winning 2011 U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team, including Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) and Haley Skarupa (Rockville, Md.), who will be playing in their third IIHF U18 Women's World Championship. Joining them from the 2011 U.S. squad will be defensemen Courtney Burke (Albany, N.Y.) and Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.), and forwards Sydney Daniels (Southwick, Mass.), Paige Savage (Carrollton, Tex.) and Dana Trivigno (Setauket, N.Y.).

Click here for the full U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team roster.

The U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team will open play against Russia on Dec. 31. A full schedule is below.

NOTES: The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, being played for the fifth time, includes teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009) as well as last season (2011). In 2010, the team took home the silver medal ... Heather Linstad, head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2011-12 season and will guide the team in the Czech Republic. She will be assisted by Joel Johnson and Hilary Witt ... To follow the team in the Czech Republic, check out the U.S. Women's National Program blog by clicking here ... Post-game video interviews can be found by clicking here.

Team USA 2012 Women's World Under-18 Championship Schedule
Prerov and Zlin, Czech Republic

Date Opponent Time (Local/EST) Result
Sat., Dec. 31 Russia 5 p.m./11 a.m. Game Blog
Sun., Jan. 1 Sweden 7 p.m./1 p.m. Game Blog
Tues., Jan. 3 Czech Republic 7 p.m./1 p.m. Game Blog
Wed., Jan. 4 Quarterfinal 1 3 p.m./9 a.m. Game Blog
Quarterfinal 2 7 p.m./1 p.m. Game Blog
Fri., Jan. 6 Semifinal 1 3 p.m./9 a.m. Game Blog
Semifinal 2 7 p.m./1 p.m. Game Blog
Sat., Jan. 7 Bronze-Medal Game 3 p.m./9 a.m. Game Blog
Gold-Medal Game 7 p.m./1 p.m. Game Blog

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How's your day going so far? Mine is going pretty good here. Watching my Jimmy play with his Christmas presents is always fun!

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Riders add All-Canadian kicker Chris Bodnar.

Visit the leagues' official website, http://www.cfl.ca/.

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Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time on this date in 1845. The event was the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, Georgia.

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The 2011 NFL season is underway. Here's the week sixteen results:

Week 16

Thursday, December 22nd

At Indianapolis 19, Houston 16

Saturday, December 24th

Oakland 16 at Kansas City 13
At Tennessee 23, Jacksonville 17
At New England 27, Miami 24
At Cincinnati 23, Arizona 16
At Buffalo 40, Denver 14
At Pittsburgh 27, St. Louis 0
NY Giants 29 at NY Jets 14
Minnesota 33 at Washington 26
At Carolina 48, Tampa Bay 14
At Baltimore 20, Cleveland 14
At Detroit 38, San Diego 10
Philadelphia 20 at Dallas 7
San Francisco 19 at Seattle 17

Sunday, December 25th

At Green Bay 35, Chicago 21

Monday, December 26th

At New Orleans 45, Atlanta 16

Week 17 (Final week of regular season)

All times Eastern

Sunday, January 1st

Carolina at New Orleans 1:00 PM
Buffalo at New England 1:00 PM
Chicago at Minnesota 1:00 PM
NY Jets at Miami 1:00 PM
San Francisco at St. Louis 1:00 PM
Detroit at Green Bay 1:00 PM
Tampa Bay at Atlanta 1:00 PM
Baltimore at Cincinnati 1:00 PM
Pittsburgh at Cleveland 1:00 PM
Dallas at NY Giants 1:00 PM
Washington at Philadelphia 1:00 PM
Indianapolis at Jacksonville 1:00 PM
Tennessee at Houston 1:00 PM
Seattle at Arizona 4:15 PM
Kansas City at Denver 4:15 PM
San Diego at Oakland 4:15 PM

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Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas on this date in 1900. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen.

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Look Daddy. Santa brought me McQueen cars!

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James Barrie's play "Peter Pan" premiered in London on this date in 1904.

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Today in Elvis History:

1956 - In Memphis, Elvis Presley played touch football at the Dave Wells Community Center with friends, including Red West.

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The children's television program "Howdy Doody," hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC on this date in 1947.

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Today in Beatles History:

1960 - The Beatles played a gig at the Town Hall in Litherland, Liverpool.

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On this date in 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio, a Crosley automobile, with a steering wheel on the right side, became the first vehicle of its kind to be placed in service for mail delivery.

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Today in Sports History:

1980 - Calvin Murphy (Rockets) began an NBA free throw streak of 78.

1981 - Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) became the fastest NHL player to get to 100 points in a season. It only took him 38 games.

1998 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first team to sweep all of their NFC East games in a season.

1998 - Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys) set an NFL record for career touchdowns.

2000 - Mario Lemeiux (Pittsburgh Penguins) returned to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player after over 3 years of retirement. He was the first owner-player in the modern era of pro sports. Lemieux had purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins during his retirement from playing.

2003 - New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner fainted at a memorial service. He was released from the hospital the following day.

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"The Breakfast Club" signed off for the last time on ABC radio on this date in 1968, after 35 years on the air.

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Coming up:

Tonight --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Philadelphia Flyers 7:30pm EST

Wednesday --

Nothin' Doin'

Thursday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens 7:30pm EST

Friday --

Nothin' Doin'

Saturday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Carolina Hurricanes 5:00pm EST

Sunday --

NFL Football -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons 1:00pm EST (Final game of regular season)

Monday --

Nothin' Doin'

Tuesday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs 7:00pm EST

Wednesday --

Nothin' Doin'

Thursday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Ottawa Senators 7:30pm EST

Friday --

Nothin' Doin'

Saturday --

Junior Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors Empire South and EJHL South teams at EJHL Showcase at N.E.S.C., Harlborough, Massachusetts.

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens 7:00pm EST

Sunday --

Junior Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors Empire South and EJHL South teams at EJHL Showcase at N.E.S.C., Harlborough, Massachusetts.

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That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you'll do so tomorrow too. Thanks again!